A rogue hacker, pursued by the FBI for computer sabotage, managed to elude a team of crack federal agents Saturday after a lengthy electronic manhunt.Â The hacker, still known only by her code name “L4R”, had been identified Friday as the infiltrator of the well-known humor web site monzy.com.

“It wasn’t easy to trace L4R,” admitted monzy.com staff member Dan Maynes-Aminzade.Â “She had done nearly everything in her power to cover up her tracks.Â Unfortunately for her, she didn’t know who she was dealing with.”Â An expert in electronic espionage and counterintelligence, Maynes-Aminzade is widely renowned for his ability to track even the faintest of digital footprints.

Working in tandem with the Chicago-based Computer Crime Squad, a division of the FBI, Maynes-Aminzade spent hours following L4R through a tangled web of intricate cybernetic ghost trails.Â He eventually hit upon her hacking lair, a small 10-unit apartment on the east side of Pittsburgh.Â A rapid response team of FBI agents immediately began undercover scouting operations, capturing incriminating photographic evidence of L4R’s hacking activities (see picture at right).

FBI file photograph, captured
from a bug of L4R’s apartment.

After a 24-hour stakeout, the FBI mounted a raid, but upon entering L4R’s apartment, they were shocked to discover it empty.Â L4R had somehow slipped though the net of FBI surveillance, leaving behind no clues to her whereabouts but a computer terminal eerily blinking the words “71M3 4 212, L8R SuKk3Rz!”Â When an FBI agent began dusting the keyboard for fingerprints, the terminal exploded violently, destroying the last of the evidence and badly injuring the agent in the process.

FBI officials are furious at L4R’s escape, but members of the tightly-knit underground hacker community have been quick to jump to her defense.Â “L4R 1Z a l33T h4X0r 8483!” exclaimed the cracker “1C3 N-f3rN0” in a recent discussion on the IRC channel “#hackers”.Â “Sh3 c4N r3LLy n0k it 0Ut!”Â Slightly less outspoken but just as supportive was Emmanuel Goldstein, editor-in-chief of the popular hacker quarterly 2600. Â “We believe that the FBI’s persecution of L4R is unjust,” Goldstein remarked.Â “L4R engaged in exploratory activities simply to satiate her intellectual curiosity and apply her ingenuity, and not with the intent to incur personal gain or to engage in the malicious destruction ofÂ property.”

Nevertheless, the FBI is resolute in its continued pursuit of L4R, recently adding her to their “Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List” and offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to her capture.Â “The FBIÂ refuses to tolerate L4R’s contemptible brand of cybervandalism,” proclaimed William G. Eubanks, associate supervisor of the Computer Crime Squad.Â “The hacker subculture must be made aware of the hazards of their illegal activities.Â When L4R is captured, she will provide the example we need.”

What does Maynes-Aminzade think of all of this?

“I must admit that I’ve developed a certain sense of respect for L4R’s abilities,” he commented.Â “In all of my years as a digital sleuth, I’ve never encountered so wily a foe.Â But all professional esteem aside, I refuse to sympathize with L4R’s insidious motives, and ultimately I hope that she will be brought to justice.”